from the why-are-we-not-surprised dept: the military vote may not be a shoo-in for a
wol next november. william douglas writes for
knight-ridder:
when the bush campaign asked james mckinnon to co-chair its veterans steering committee in new hampshire - a job he held in 2000 - the 56-year-old vietnam veteran respectfully, but firmly, said no.
"i basically told them i was disappointed in his support of veterans," said mckinnon, who served two tours in vietnam with the coast guard. "he's killing the active-duty military. ... look at the reserves call-ups for iraq, the hardships. the national guard - the state militia - is being used improperly. i took the president at his word on iraq, and now you can't find a single report to back up or substantiate weapons of mass destruction."
and paula span, in the
washpost, tells us:
by the time army 2nd lt. seth dvorin was sent to iraq last september, however, his father was having doubts. and now that seth had been killed, at 24, by an "improvised explosive device" south of baghdad, doubt had turned to anger.
"where are all the weapons of mass destruction?" richard dvorin demanded in his letter. "where are the stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons?" his son's life, he wrote, "has been snuffed out in a meaningless war."
his is not the only military family to think so. in suburban cleveland a few days later, the rev. tandy sloan tuned in to the "meet the press" interview with president bush and felt "disgust." his 19-year-old son, army pvt. brandon sloan, was killed when his convoy was ambushed last march. "a human being can make mistakes," the rev. sloan says of the president. "but if you intentionally mislead people, that's another thing."
in fullerton, calif., paralegal student kimberly huff, whose army reservist husband recently returned from iraq, makes a similar point with a wardrobe of homemade protest t-shirts that say things like "support our troops, impeach bush."
a group called military families speak out -- which will figure prominently in marches and vigils at dover air force base, walter reed army medical center and the white house next week -- says more than 1,000 families have signed up online and notes that new members join daily. other outspoken family members -- dvorin, for example -- have never heard of the group but, for a variety of reasons, share its founders' conviction that the war is a "reckless military misadventure."
here is the web site for military families speak out. there you can find articles and letters by family members of the troops in iraq, including this one, from rosemarie dietz slavenas to george w. bush:
my beloved son brian died for your red herring in the sand. he was an honorable, restrained, talented, caring man, and the world would be better off with him alive and well. he resigned his commission in the illinois national guard when assigned to duty in iraq as a matter of conscience. he served nonetheless, and he bled for 1/2 hour in the desert sand before any help arrived, though the helicopter he was flying was only 5 minutes off the ground when it crashed, according to witnesses.
after his death, i received two letters from him telling me he hoped to be home in april, 2004. on christmas day i visited his grave. he did not give his life. it was cruelly taken from him by your rush to war -- against the united nations, old allies like france and germany, western religions' "just war doctrine," the entire arab world, and most civilized nations.
you inherited peace and prosperity and created murder, mayhem, and massive debt. according to the ongoing investigation of the helicopter crash that took brian's and 15 other american lives, the illinois national guard aircraft were sent into the field without basic survivability equipment, to accommodate your "shoot and bomb first, think and investigate later" brand of foreign policy. we don't need a trigger happy president.
cross-posted at the american street and our own military family blog.